SPD reports hiring surge and training bottleneck; committee warned of overtime pressure

The Seattle Public Safety Committee heard a detailed staffing and overtime briefing from Council Central Staff and SPD leadership that described a recent hiring surge alongside operational bottlenecks that could push the department beyond its 2026 budget.

Greg Doss (Council Central Staff) presented first-quarter metrics, saying there were 41 hires and 19 separations in the first quarter of 2026. He noted 985 officers had completed training and 939 were deployable once accounting for long‑term leave; under current trajectories the department could reach roughly 1,029 fully trained officers by year‑end but only about 981 deployable officers depending on leave assumptions.

Doss and SPD officials highlighted a field training officer (FTO) bottleneck: many recruits complete academy classroom work but must wait for FTOs to be assigned. In April, roughly 135 officers were in field training and about 21 were waiting for FTO assignments; SPD reported progress and said that number had declined (committee discussion referenced 16 waiting). To relieve the backlog SPD plans FTO certification classes with 20 seats in July and another class in November.

On overtime, staff said the overtime budget has grown between 2022 and 2026 largely because of contract wage increases and a retroactive payment that affected Q1 comparisons. Patrol precinct overtime was down about 29% in the first quarter, while reimbursable overtime tied to events and extensive field training hours rose; Doss cited roughly 7,200 hours (about $900,000) used for field training of new officers in the reporting period. With the current mix of hires and separations, Doss said SPD could face about $1.7 million in unbudgeted salary costs by year‑end unless the department slows hiring or finds savings elsewhere.

Committee members pressed SPD leadership on several questions: how long recruits wait for FTO assignments, whether the department intends to slow hiring to stay within the budget, how overtime will be used to support emphasis patrols (including planned Aurora operations), and what deployment mix provides the most public‑safety benefit given constrained resources. Director Eder and the chief said slowing hiring was on the table and that SPD was working to increase FTO capacity; they also said the department has been using voluntary overtime augmentation to maintain response times during the hiring surge.

Doss noted response-time metrics have remained relatively stable (average Priority 1 response time ~10 minutes; median seven minutes) despite a ~12% increase in call volume. The committee requested follow-up data on separations by gender and more context on comparative staffing levels with peer cities.

Next steps: SPD and central staff will return with staffing follow-ups (FTO timeline, separations by gender, and policy choices related to hiring pace and budget offsets).